By Khalida Sarwari
A cup filled to the top with freshly made berry smoothie sat atop Cindy Nguyen’s desk at the PN Real Estate office in San Jose this morning — prepared, as it was every morning, by her assistant, Catherine Diep.
Only today, the smoothie would remain untouched, because Nguyen, an office manager from Campbell, wouldn’t be there to drink it. A 33-year-old man is suspected of kidnapping and killing the 60-year-old Nguyen on Friday as part of a crime spree that began at a Chevron gas station in San Jose and ended Sunday night outside of a Little Caesars restaurant in West Sacramento.
Standing in front of her office today, Nick Pham, a broker and owner of PN Real Estate, said he is hopeful that the news of the popular Vietnamese radio show host’s death was a nightmare and that she may be alive after all. He said he and Nguyen were close friends.
“The whole community is in shock,” Pham said, his eyes red-rimmed and his voice breaking. “We are still not believing it.”
He said Nguyen’s loss has devastated her family and reverberated throughout a community — one that extends even as far as Texas, Florida, and Vietnam — that has been a beneficiary of her kindness in one way or another throughout the years.
Nguyen was the kind of woman, Pham said, who was like a big sister to her co-workers, someone who would drop everything to take care of another person’s needs before her own.
She was a single mother of three who was never late to pick up her kids from school, Pham said.
To celebrate her life and reflect on her loss, Pham will hold a candlelight vigil at The Plant shopping center on Friday night. He has invited Mayor Chuck Reed and members of the Police Department and wants Nguyen’s friends to bring a memory of her to share.
Police have identified Nguyen’s killer as Paul Ray Castillo, a parolee from San Jose whose criminal history reflects a “propensity for violence,” said Sgt. Jason Dwyer.
Castillo began his alleged crime spree around 10 a.m. Friday at a Chevron gas station on Lincoln Avenue, where he allegedly approached a 42-year-old man while he was pumping gas and shot him during a robbery attempt, Dwyer said.
The victim was taken to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and is expected to survive.
Castillo then allegedly fled the scene in a Nissan 300Z that had been reported stolen nine days earlier. Police later found the car at The Plant shopping center at Monterey Road and Curtner Avenue, about a mile from the gas station.
There, he allegedly carjacked Nguyen around noon. Pham today said she had called her assistant from the area on Friday afternoon to ask for help jumpstarting her car battery, but that she had called back to say some people had come by to help her. That was the last time anyone heard from Nguyen.
Castillo wasn’t seen again until six hours later, when police spotted his vehicle near a condo complex near Mabury and North King roads. An officer fired several shots at him after he allegedly tried to run over the officer, Dwyer said. He crashed the car and fled on foot and could not be located despite an extensive search.
Nguyen’s car, a white 1997 Lexus, was found in the area.
Nguyen’s body was found at 8 a.m. Saturday in a home in the 500 block of North 12th Street. Castillo has ties to that home, Dwyer said.
Officers searched for Castillo throughout the weekend, even using a grounded police helicopter, until they finally tracked him down in West Sacramento and took him into custody around 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
“He gave up peacefully,” Dwyer said.
Castillo is being held without bail at Santa Clara County Jail on several charges, including parole violation, armed robbery and aggravated kidnapping. Dwyer said he was not booked on a homicide charge, but that it is likely he will also face a homicide charge once the police report is complete.
Castillo’s criminal history includes domestic violence, carjacking and drug-related offenses, Dwyer said.
He is expected to be arraigned on Wednesday, according to Lisa McCrary, a spokeswoman for the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.
